Why is the lack of course info so bad in this sport.

I am not saying the course directory should have it all in one place, but if you follow the links to the course website, when there is one. The information on a lot of courses is so lack luster I have a hard time wanting to go play a course half the time.

Things you should have either in the course directory or the course web sites:
1. Tee signs
2. Scorecards with real actual lengths
3. Course maps
4. Photo's

Is this little bit of information so hard to really get? Or are we just really not trying to show case our courses?

I do applaud the few sites they have detailed info on courses, and ratings, but we really should try to up the ante better.

Why is disc golf plagued by people complaining that volunteers don't do enough?

Sorry, I tend to get defensive about volunteer-bashing.

As a traveler who visits lots of courses, I know exactly what you're saying. I've been frustrated myself by lack of information, outdated information, bad directions, etc. But some courses are lucky to have enough volunteers to keep up the course, let alone maintain a website. Not every local disc golf community has a web designer among them, and few have the funds to pay for website design. Some have imposed upon a member who reluctantly produced a website but doesn't have time to be thorough with it---but it's better than no website at all.

Here in Columbia we are fortunate that our club president, who is also state organization director, does webdesign and has created informative, though not flashy, sites. Don't know where we'd have been without him.

By the way, check out my own course site in my signature---I've spent a lot of time on it, and hope it is effective. But I'm always looking for better ideas to improve it, and would love to visit the sites you've created to see what I can learn that will help me.

with sites like:
http://www.playdg.com/
I know theres a couple others
or state ones like
http://www.ohiodiscgolf.org/

or even the Directory here

We should see and make it easier for the clubs and areas that don't have the time, money and huge volunters that other areas do.

Even if the PDGA Directory could do something like Cincinati does like this:
http://www.cincinnatidiscgolf.com/
(Check out each course page) We could get better info and more information then is present. Most this information should be on the PDGA directory anyways as it would or should be done for course reviews.

To say that it is all on the locals and volunteers is the problem as I see it. The little info a volunteer or course designer should need to supply is not that huge, It's getting it all into a easy to use, manipulate and update form.

The PDGA couldn't do something like Cincinnati's page due to the huge amounts of bandwidth that would be needed. In fact, there was discussion on the Cincinnati board to move the courses pages to free web hosts instead of the website to free up bandwidth.

one idea that could come up is to make data available to qualified websites so that they could add whatever value they can develop. there's pros and cons of course, and all kinds of details would need to be worked out, but it could result in some interesting and useful new features being developed.

I'm an insurance agent and in my business, and probably many others, there are venders offering cookie-cutter websites. You pay a modest fee and select among a limited choice of backgrounds, and provide the text information. Most are 3-6 pages, with all buttons and links, and the pages pre-arranged for their purposes ("contact", "claims", etc.).

Perhaps an enterprising vendor in the disc golf world could do something similar and offer it to local clubs? I'm not that person so have no idea what it would entail, and how much business it would take to justify such an endeavor. But if it were possible, it would be one way to make better info available online without the PDGA having to do the heavy lifting, or the individual clubs.

I know they are all volunteer and do it in there spare time, but
http://www.playdg.com/
has to be the best thing I have ever seen, look close, a few new courses have course maps using google earth, and many have scorecards.

I am not sure how much work this actually takes to put together on there end, but the criteria for submitting a course is not that overwhelming.

I would love to see someone back them or get them help if they can use it and get more courses done. I plan to work on many of our area ones. Already got a lot of data done, just have to haul the trip and camera out for photo's on a good overcast day.

Wow....on closer look, that really is a good site. It's just regional right now, and not of great use to me since its all 1500 miles away, but perhaps these are the guys to take this forward. I wonder how many submissions they can handle and host as volunteers....or whether there's an opportunity for them to make a little money, making it worthwhile to make it national in scope. I didn't look hard at the submission process, but it seems to be an answer for local clubs without the resources for their own website.

PlayDG.com has at least doubled since I first found it a couple years ago, and I agree: It's the best showcase for our courses currently online. The only problem with their submittal process is the...

...checking...

...nevermind, they have changed it since I last visited. They used to ask for huge images with a 10X optical zoom, something many cameras simply didn't have (especially then). Now all they ask for is 640x480 with 5X; manageable by most cameras these days.

The only "problem" with the site overall is the volunteer aspect. It gets updated whenever they have time, and ususally it's just regional courses that are highlighted. I'm not knocking the people that do the updates, but it has potential to be a great resource for the national DG community. Do they take donations? Maybe a little incentive to expand beyond the upper midwest could get the ball rolling?

I think the expansion beyond the areas they have done is more about other people in those areas submitting the info.

Check out discgolfmichigan.com. Awesome work by a zealous individual to compile, catalog, and photograph every course in the state of Michigan.

Simply awesome work. The e-book is great with links to many clubs and related websites. Definitely a model for all states to take and run with . I think the author spent well over a year researching and putting it together.

Another worth noting is www.dgcoursereview.com (http://www.dgcoursereview.com)

I may be a bit biased when it comes to that one :D